


Arsonists Lullabye

by speedfanfic



Series: Song Inspired One-Shots [1]
Category: EXO (Band), No Fandom
Genre: The temptation of the fire, arsonists lullaby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-31 06:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17843969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speedfanfic/pseuds/speedfanfic
Summary: When I was a child, I'd sit for hoursStaring into open flameSomething in it had a powerCould barely tear my eyes awayDon't you ever tame your demonsBut always keep 'em on a leashArsonists Lullabye - Hozier





	Arsonists Lullabye

His parents are asleep. He is supposed to be, too.

They had stopped in a small clearing between the trees, just big enough to fit the three of them and a little campfire. It glows bright among the darkness of their camp, nothing more then blankets made of sheepskins hastily thrown together to create makedo blankets and small rocks as pillows.

It is on one of these small rocks that he sits, gazing into the fire. It amazes him, the blending of the reds and oranges and yellows and blues. It crackles as the wind kicks up and the leaves dance, little bursts of flame flying in all directions. The heat scorches his skin.

It doesn’t burn him, as it would do to others. Instead, it calms him.

He closes his eyes, and a kaleidoscope of colors attack his senses. He embraces it rather then fights it, and the colors burn brighter. He opens his eyes to see the flames dance higher, almost touching the lowest reaching branches.

He was supposed to put out the fire hours ago, soon after his parents went to sleep. Too many combustible objects, too many predators lurking within the trees. The fire draws them, calls to them.

His parents are running from a threat that they are keeping from him. Something that is chasing them, from one place to another. He knows he should put out the fire. But he can’t.

As the moon rises through the sky his parents do not rouse from their sleep, and he fights back the fatigue weighing down on him. The temptation of the power radiating from the fire far outweighs the temptation to sleep, and so he stretches his hand out towards the flames.

He could swear they lick higher in response.

He puts his hand down. The fire calms.

It exhilarates him. 

He repeats the motion, and repeats it again, and again.

He’s too distracted to hear the rustling behind him. To hear the footsteps against the grass, to hear the thud as steel meets flesh.

It’s the scream that finally draws his attention. He turns in time to see his mother rising, to see the cloaked figure standing over his father's unmoving body while holding a bloody dagger, more cloaked figures emerging from the trees.

They merge to his mother, who stands next to her dead husband sobbing and screaming at him to run. He stands frozen. Her sobs quicken as they advance on her, and with every sob the flames jump.

He’s still frozen as they grab her, and the one who dealt the killing blow to his father deals the same killing blow to her. The only noise in the clearing is the sound of her blood hitting the ground, and the crackling fire.

He concentrates on these sounds.

He doesn't feel terrified, like he knows he should. He doesn't feel grief.

Instead he feels anger. It builds up in him as the cloaked figures advance once more. It builds up until it explodes.

The campfire erupts.

The cloaked figures scream as they are enshrouded in the flames. The clearing burns, the fire spreading across the grass and trees until the bodies are disintegrated into ash, including those of his parents.

And as ash falls from the sky and the fire continues to crackle, he stands over his creation with a smile on his face.


End file.
